Winter Storms Cause Lower Mississippi River Flooding

For the second time in three years, the lower Mississippi River is flooding in January.

High water is moving downriver from the junction with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois, where the Ohio crested over the weekend.

The river is predicted to crest at Memphis, Tennessee, on Thursday, at Vicksburg on Monday, at Natchez on Jan. 18 and at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by Jan. 20.

Flooding of low-lying areas unprotected by levees will be widespread. Relatively few buildings are unprotected.

U.S Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District commander Col. Michael Derosier tells The Vicksburg Post that the district has activated its emergency operations center to prepare.

National Weather Service hydrologist Marty Pope says rainfall across the Ohio and Mississippi valleys caused the flood.

Springtime is historically the river’s flood season.